It is generally believed that many, if not the vast majority, of people are simply unable to program their VCRs to record a desired television program on a given channel, at a given time and date. VCR manufacturers have provided different programming schemes in an attempt to address this undesirable situation, with little success.
Early VCRs such as the VET 650 manufactured by RCA Corporation, Indianapolis, Ind., were programmed by means of pushbuttons mounted on the front panel of the VCR. The pushbuttons controlled the entry of time-on, time-off, date, and channel number data. Feedback was provided to the user by means of a front-panel-mounted LED (light emitting diode) display. While such systems accomplished the programming task, they were not perceived as being user-friendly.
Later VCRs such as the Panasonic model PV-4800 manufactured by Panasonic Company, Division of Matsushita Electric Corporation of America, Secaucus, N.J., provided on-screen programming in an effort to make programming the VCR a less intimidating and confusing task. Nonetheless, users may still be confused by the numerous programming steps involved.
Panasonic VCR model PV-2812 employs a bar-code reader for programming the recording of television shows. In this system, a user draws a bar-code reader across the appropriate codes printed on a bar-code sheet. This solution is considered inadequate for several reasons. First, most newspapers do not print television schedule bar-codes. Second, such printed bar-code sheets tend to be relatively large pieces of paper which should be stored in a place, presumably near the VCR, where they will be readily available for programming. Third, the user must use yet another piece of equipment (i.e., the bar-code reader) in order to read-in the code for his desired television show.
When the user is a subscriber to a cable television system, his confusion concerning VCR programming may be greatly multiplied, because it is common practice in cable television systems to translate programs from their normal "air" channel to a different "cable" channel. For example, a television program broadcast on channel 29 may be received by a cable television subscriber on cable channel 09. Thus, when the channel listed in the channel guide of the local newspaper is not the channel upon which the desired television show is actually conveyed by the user's cable TV service, the VCR programming task may appear insurmountable.
Recently, a programming simplification system known as VCR PLUS.TM., manufactured by Gemstar Development Corporation, Pasadena, Calif., has become available. Briefly, the apparatus of the VCR PLUS.TM. system resembles a standard remote control handunit. The handunit is preprogrammed with the codes for controlling the VCRs and cable control boxes of many manufacturers. The handunit is then programmed by the user with a unique code comprising 1 to 8 digits, which code corresponds to a particular television show broadcast on a given channel, at a given time and date, and having a given duration. A television show which is broadcast at the most popular viewing time (for example, 7 pm) may have a code which comprises only 1 digit. Conversely, a television show which is broadcast at the least popular viewing time (for example, 3 am) may have a code which comprises the full 8 digits. These codes are printed in the channel guide section of the viewer's local newspaper along with the normal time and channel information. After entering the unique 1 to 8 digit code for a particular television show to be recorded, the user places the handunit in a cradle mounted on his VCR to ensure that the handunit is in the proper orientation for transmitting data to the IR (infrared) receiver of the VCR and to the cable box. At the proper time, the VCR PLUS.TM. handunit transmits IR codes to the cable box to turn it on and tune it to the desired channel, and to the VCR to turn it on and program it to record the desired television show.
While at first glance, it appears that the VCR PLUS.TM. system solves the consumer's VCR-programming confusion problem, a significant problem remains. If the user is a cable television subscriber, the VCR PLUS.TM. system has no way of knowing which broadcast channels are assigned to which cable channels of the user's particular cable service. Thus, to use the same example as given above, a user who is a cable television subscriber must perform a channel-mapping procedure to inform the VCR PLUS.TM. handunit that channel 29 is actually received on cable channel 09. The VCR PLUS.TM. system provides a method of selecting each of its channel-programming positions to effect this one-time channel-mapping procedure. However, the task of selecting each position for channel-mapping is in itself somewhat confusing and time-consuming.
Copending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 695,026 discloses a programming system built into a VCR which includes VCR PLUS.TM. capability and autoprogramming capability. That application recognized that the channel-mapping procedure may be greatly simplified by using the autoprogramming feature to locate and program all active channels, and then by mapping in a channel guide list only those channels which are active, instead of requiring the user to select all 125 possible channel-programming positions.
There is a further problem that is encountered when users attempt to record a television show from some cable television systems in that these cable television systems require the use of a receiver unit, normally referred to as a cable box, or set-top converter. In these systems, many cable channels (i.e., the so-called premium channels) are scrambled (i.e., encoded or encrypted) and must be descrambled (i.e., decoded or decrypted) in the cable box. The cable box descrambles the premium channel and converts its RF carrier frequency from its assigned cable channel frequency to a cable box output frequency, normally that of channel 2, 3, 4, or 5. Thus, if the VCR of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 695,026 were directly connected to the incoming cable, and if cable channel 40 were a scrambled premium channel, programming the VCR to record cable channel 40 would cause the VCR to record a scrambled signal. That is, the usable, descrambled version of cable channel 40 only appears at the output of the cable box on one of channels 2, 3, 4, or 5. Unfortunately, if that VCR were to be coupled to the cable box directly, then the ability to tune and record all nonscrambled cable channels would be lost, because the VCR has no control over the cable box channel selection circuitry, unlike the VCR PLUS.TM. handunit.
Copending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 704,418 recognized that when a user has access to a cable system via a cable box, and to the cable system directly, that the VCR PLUS.TM. channel mapping feature may be automatically performed for premium channels from the cable box, thus simplifying the programming even more. Unfortunately, even with the system of Copending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 704,418, programs from two different premium channels cannot be recorded in sequence because that VCR cannot cause a channel change in the cable converter box.